Automatic feeder for a bundle tyer



Dec. 17, 1963 J. B. SAXTON ETAL 3,114,308

AUTOMATIC FEEDER FOR A BUNDLE TYER Filed Dec. 21, 1961 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORS AMES B. SAxToNw SEPH J. BACHMAYER ATTORNEYS Dec. 17, 1963 J. B. SAXTON ETAL 3,114,308

AUTOMATIC FEEDER FOR A BUNDLE TYER Filed Dec. 21, 1961 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 1N ENTORS JAMES gAXTONM SEPH BACHMAYER ATTORNEYS Dec. 17, 1963 J. B. SAXTON ETAL AUTOMATIC FEEDER FOR A BUNDLE TYER 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Dec. 21, 1961 INVENTORS B. SAXTONM J. BACHMAYER AMES SEPH

ATTORNEYS 3,114,308 AUTOMATIC FEEDER FOR A BUNDLE TYER James B. Saxton and Joseph J. Bachmayer, lilissfield, M ch, asslgnors to National Bundle Tyer Company, Bhssfield, Micln, a corporation of Michigan Fiied Dec. 21, 1961, Ser. No. 161,185 8 Claims. (Ci. 10t)4-) This invention relates to an automatic feeder for a bundle tyer, a machine embodying the invention being particularly adapted for cooperation with a bundle tyer of the type used for binding bundles, for example of newspapers, and to be interposed between the output end of a conveyor upon which bundles to be tied are accumulated and the input side of the bundle tyer.

It is customary in newspaper printing plants for workmen to select specified quantities of copies of each edition and to place them in a stack, group or bundle with the top newspaper of the bundle carrying the name of the consignee, for example a particular news dealer, and to place such bundles upon a conveyor leading to a tying machine. Because of the great variation in the number of papers to be bundled together for different dealers in different locations, these bundles do not reach the bundle tying machine in uniform spacing on the conveyor or with uniform intervals of time between their arrival at the tying machine. It has heretofore been customary for an operator to stand at the end of the conveyor bringing the bundles to the machine and to push each bundle onto the tying machine when it is ready to receive the bundle so as to perform the tying operation.

It is the principal object of the instant invention to provide an automatic mechanism for feeding a bundle to be tied onto the receiving table of a bundle tyer only when the bundle tyer is ready to receive the particular bundle and to automatically put it through a tying cycle.

It is another object of the instant invention to provide an automatic feeder for a bundle tyer which will hold back each successive bundle until the bundle tyer is ready to receive the bundle upon its table so as to be put through the automatic tying cycle, and thus to prevent jamming bundles on the receiving table of the bundle tyer.

It is yet another object of the instant invention to provide an automatic feeder for a bundle tyer which will not interfere with the feeding of a bundle directly from a previous conveyor and immediately onto the receiving table of the bundle tyer if the bundle tyer is ready to receive and tie the bundle.

These and other more specific objects and advantages of an automatic feeder embodying the invention will be better understood from the specification which follows and from the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a front view in perspective of an automatic bundle tyer equipped with an automatic feeder according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary, vertical sectional view taken along the line 22 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary, vertical sectional view taken along the line 33 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary view in perspective of the feeding table of an automatic feeder according to the invention; and

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary view in perspective and on an enlarged scale of an actuating rocker with which an automatic feeder embodying the invention is equipped.

An automatic feeder for a bundle tyer according to the invention is intended to be used with an automatic bundle tyer of the type specifically described and claimed in US. Patent No. 2,374,900 to Albert H. Saxon and such a machine is generally indicated in FIGURE 1 by the reference number 10. A bundle tyer of this type has a table 11, the left side forming a receiving table for United States Patent 0 di addii "ice the bundle tyer 1t and the right side of the table serving to support a bundle, for example a bundle of newspapers, generally indicated by the reference number 12, during tying and subsequent to its being tied. A bundle tyer 11B of this type has an automatic trip paddle 13 which initiates a bundle tying cycle when a bundle is pushed against the paddle 13, by closing a suitable switch or valve in order to actuate a feeding cylinder 14 (see also FIG. 2) which, through its piston rod 15 swings a feeding lever 16 forwardly. The feeding lever 16 is connected by a link 17 to a depending arm 18 on a feeder carriage 19. The carriage 19 slides back and forth along the length of the table 11 on one or more parallel guide rods 21}. The feeder carriage 19 has a pair of upwardly extending, parallel pushers 21 connected by a generally U-shaped yoke 22 which lies at a level just above the table 11 and is rigidly attached to a heavy channel 23 (FIG. 3) which is a part of the pusher carriage 19. A stop plate 24 is erected at the back side of the table 11 so that bundles pushed onto the table are stopped by the plate 24, after having tripped the paddle 13.

When the cylinder 14 pulls its piston rod 15 inwardly, the pushers 21 move a'bundle longitudinally of the table 11 to tying position. As the bundle moves to tying position, i.e. the position of the bundle 12 in FIG. 1, it passes over a spring biased wrapper lifting finger 25 and holds the following edge of the wrapper up during tying.

When the bundle 12 reaches tying position, the carriage 19 actuates a valve to urge a compressor foot 26 downwardly. The movement of the compressor foot 26 trips off the automatic tying mechanism disclosed in the abovementioned patent to Saxton. The mechanism includes a main shaft 26a which is rotated through a single revolution for each tying cycle and which drives mechanism (not shown) to swing a needle arm 27 down and around the bundle 12, wrapping a length of tying twine or wire 28 tightly around the bundle 12 and knotting the same beneath the level of the table 11. The mechanism also cuts the twine or wire 28 after the knot is formed and retains a grip on the end thereof which is located below the table 11 preparatory to a subsequent tie. After the tie is completed, the tying mechanism finishes its rotation to swing the needle arm 27 from its lower position where it is located during the tying of the bundle, to its rest position, indicated in FIG. 1. Near the end of the single rotation of the shaft 26a, a vane 28a on the shaft 26a actuates a pilot air valve 28b to feed air to the cylinder 14 to move the feeding lever 16 back to the position shown in solid lines in FIG. 2 and to return the carriage 19 back to the left side of the table 11 in position to receive a subsequent bundle.

An automatic feeder according to the invention is generally indicated in FIG. 1 by the reference number 29 and the function of such mechanism is to deliver bundles, such as the bundle 12, onto the receiving end of the table 11 at such time that there is no possibility that a bundle may be pushed upon the table 11 before the pusher bars 21 are returned to receiving position but only after the pusher bars 21 have returned to the left side of the machine where they are shown in FIG. 1 and in solid lines in FIG. 2. The automatic feeder 29 has a main frame comprising front legs 31 and back legs 31 rigidly connected to each other by suitable frame members including main top side frames 32. The two side frames 32 mount pairs of aligned journals (not shown) which, in turn, rotatably mount the ends of a plurality of parallel roller shafts 33 each of which supports a back-up roller 34 or a split roller 35 as the case may be. The side frames 32 also journal the ends of two idler shafts 3s upon each of which a plurality of feeder belt pulleys 37 is pinned or otherwise secured, there being the same to number of belt pulleys 37 on each of the shafts 36 and these pairs of pulleys 37 being aligned with each other. Each pair of the pulleys 37 on their respective spaced shafts 36 is engaged with one of a plurality of feeding belts 33 which have their horizontal spans extending in directions normal to the table if and parallel to each other across the back up rollers 34 and the split roller 35 and in engagement with the peripheral surfaces thereof. Each of the bolts 38 is engaged with its respective one of a plurality of drive pulleys 39 which are pinned or otherwise secured to a power shaft 40 which is journaled in suitable bearings suspended from an l-l-frame comprising a cross plate 41 and two end braces 42. Each of the end braces 42 is connected, for example by machine screws 43 (FIG. 3), to a front and rear leg 32'? and 31, respectively, one at each side of the frame of the feeder 29. A power pulley 44 is also secured on the power shaft 4% and engaged with a power belt 45 driven by a drive pulley 45 which is mounted on a shaft of a motor 47. The motor 47 is carried by a sub-frame 48 in the center of the feeder 29 to provide power for the rotation of the power shaft 46, the power pulleys 44 and of the feeding belts in a direction indicated by the arrow in FIG. 3, i.e. in order to move bundles such as the bundle 12 forwardly onto the table 11 of the bundle tyer.

Referring now to FIGURE 3, there is shown a fragment, indicated at 43, of a delivery conveyor by which bundles, for example the bundle shown in dotted lines and indicated by the reference number 49, are brought to the automatic feedc 29. The automatic feeder 25 functions to move bundles from the end of the conveyor 48 and to feed them forwardly onto the table 11 of the bundle tyer 10. The impetus given to the bundles by the feeder belts 38 is sufi'icient to carry them fully onto the table 11 across rollers So which are set into the table 11, and into contact with the paddle 13 for tripping the bundle tyer mechanism as above described.

In order to preclude a jam which would result if a bundle were moved onto the table 11 before the return of the pusher bar 21 to the position illustrated in FIG. 1, an automatic feeder according to the invention has a control comprising a rocker generally indicated by the reference number 51 and fragmentarily shown in perspective in FIG. 5. The rocker 51 is illustrated as comprising an open frame 52 formed by four angles and pivotally mounted by pins 53 in the lower ends of support arms 54 which depend from the main side frames 32 of the automatic feeder 29. A cross arm 55 is secured to and extends across the open frame 52 in a direction parallel to the upper spans of the feeding belts 38 and has a front end forming a restoring trip 56 which protrudes upwardly above the horizontal level of the top of the feeding belts 38 and therebetween at the discharge end of the automatic feeder 29. Open space at the center of the split roller 35 provides room for th movement of the trip 56. At the other end of the cross arm 55 there is located a stop arm 57 which has two upwardly protruding stop pins 58 and which extends outwardly between the front legs 39 of the automatic feeder 29 with the pins 58 extending outwardly between adjacent ones of the belts 38 for movement between the solid line restored position indicated in FIG. 3 where the upper ends of the pins 53 are below the level of the top spans of the feeding belts 33, to a stop position indicated in dotted lines in FIG. 3, where the upper ends of the pins 58 are above the level of the top spans the feeding belts 33 and in position to obstruct the movement of the bundle 45 onto the feeder 29. The rocker 51 is connected by a downwardly extending arm 59 (PEG. to a link 68 and spring 51, the spring 61 being in turn connected to one of the side frames 32. The link (at) being pivotally connected to the bottom of the arm 59 and the spring 61 being under tension, this mechanism forms an over-center device so that the rocker is urged thereby alternately into either the restored position or the stop position.

Referring now to PEG. 2, the arm 18 of the feeder carriage is carries an actuator 62 which is in line to engage a roller 63 on a switch or valve 64 controlling the energization of a restoring plunger 65 (see FIG. 5) the piston es of which is in line to strike the underside of the frame 52 of the rocker Assuming now that the mechanism is in the position indicated in FIG. 3 of the drawings, the bundle 49 moves by gravity downwardly until its forward edge is engaged by the feeder belts 38 which then feed the bundle 49 along their horizontal spans until its leading edge stri 'es the stop trip 56. The engagement of the bundle 9 1th the stop trip 56 earns the stop trip 56 downwe rdly swinging the rocker 51 on its pins 53 and, through over-center device comprising the link at; and spring or snapping this device in a clockwise direction (FIG. 3) so as to extend its stop pins 53 to the upper or stop positien wher they impede the movement of a subsequent bundle onto the automatic feeder 29. In the meantime, the feeding belts 38 have given to the particular bundle sufficient impetus so that it is projected beyond the automatic feeder 29 and onto the table 111 of the bundle tyer mac ine and into engagement with the paddle 13 to actuate the bundle tyer through the carriage l9 and the corrpressor foot 2o to complete a tie. When the tie is completed and upon reactuat ion of the main cylinder 14 of the bundle tyer it to return its feeding lever 16 from right to left (FIG. 2) engagement of the actuator 62 with the roller 63 on the return trip actuates the valve or switch 64 which energizes the restoring plunger 65 thrusting its piston upwardly against the bottom of the open frame 52 of the rocker 51 and tipping the rocker 51 to move the stop pins 58 from above the level of the horizontal spans of the belts 33 downwardly to restored position. This again thrusts the stop trip 56 upwardly to the position indicated in FIG. 3. It will be observed that upon the commencement of the return stroke of the main feeder carriage rs, the bundle is allowed to move onto the automatic feeder 29. The timing is such that the feeder carriage 19 returns to its rearrnost position prior to the arnival of the next bundle on the table 11, and when such bundle passes over the stop trip 56 it again depresses the stop trip 5-5 raising the stop pins 58 to prevent a subsequent bundle from moving on to the automatic feeder until the tie of the preceding bundle has been completed. The feeding belts 38 are constantly running but are engaged only by such bundles as have been released by the stop pins 53 in their lower position and are to be moved onto the table 11.

It is customary to provide a wrapper sheet for each bundle in order to prevent the tying twine or wire 28 from cutting into the exposed edges of the material being tied. The wrapper sheet is usually placed upon the conveyor first and the bundle, for example the bundle 49, then laid upon the wrapper. In order to fold the wrapper upwardly so that it will be encompassed within the tie made by the bundle tyer, the automatic feeder 29 embodying the invention has a folding plate 67 which sweeps the wrapper upwardly along the side of the bundle and the wrapper remains upwardly when engaged by the pusher bars 21 so as to be included within the tie as is illustrated by the wrapper indicated by the reference number 68 in FIG. 1.

It is to be observed that by reason of the construction and arrangement of the parts described above, the belts 38 may readily be removed for replacement merely by loosening a pair of the machine screws 43 to allow the cross plate 411 and end braces 4-2 to be raised sufficiently to disengage the bolts 38 from the drive pulleys 3h. The be ts 3% then can be disengaged from their respective belt pulleys 37 and may be moved laterally, i.e., axially of the shafts 35 outwardly over the end frames 32 and their upper spans dropped over and around the front and rear legs and 31, respectively whereupon they fall upon the floor. A belt in this position is indicated by the reference number 38a in FIGS. 1 and 3. The belt 38a then can be removed from the machine by lifting one side of the feeder, i.e., raising a pair of front and rear legs 30 and 31, respectively, off of the floor so that the belt can be slid out from underneath the lower ends thereof.

Having described our invention, we claim:

1. An automatic feeder for a bundle tyer having a table, a carriage for advancing a bundle along said table, said carriage being reciprocable between a bundle receiving position and a bundle tying position, means for moving said carriage back and forth between such positions, means responsive to the arrival of a bundle on said table at bundle receiving position for actuating said carriage for advancing said bundle from receiving position to tying position, a tying mechanism at tying position, means responsive to the arrival of a bundle at tying position for actuating said tying mechanism through a tying cycle and means responsive to the completion of a tying cycle for actuating said carriage moving means for returning said carriage to bundle receiving position, said automatic feeder comprising, in combination, mechanism for feeding a bundle received from a preceding bundle conveyor onto said bundle tyer table at bundle receiving position, bundle stop means movable between a stop position for preventing the passage of a bundle off of said preceding conveyor onto said automatic feeder and a restored position in which said stop means does not prevent such passage, stop positioning means actuated by the feeding of a bundle off of said automatic feeder onto said bundle tyer table for moving said stop means to stop position, stop restoring means for moving said stop means to restored position and means actuated by said bundle tyer after completion of a tying cycle and in timed relation to the arrival of said bundle tyer carriage at bundle receiving position for actuating said stop restoring means.

2. An automatic feeder according to claim 1 in which the mechanism for feeding a bundle consists of a belt conveyor having a horizontal span extending across the top of said automatic feeder from the end of the precedthe mechanism for feeding a bundle consists of a plurality of spaced, parallel, constantly driven belts extending across the top of said automatic feeder.

5. An automatic feeder according to claim 4 \in which the stop means consists of a member movable between a stop position above the level of said belts at the entry side of said feeder for obstructing the movement of a bundle onto said belts and a restored position below the level of said belts.

6. An automatic feeder according to claim 4 in which the stop positioning means consists of a trip extending upwardly between said belts at the exit side of said feeder and engageable by a bundle moving off of said feeder.

7. An automatic feeder according to claim 4 in which the stop means and the stop positioning means are mounted on opposite ends of a rocker mounted on an axis normal to the direction of movement of said belts and are alternately movable into and out of bundle engaging positions, engagement of a bundle with said stop positioning means at the exit side of said feeder acting to swing said stop means into bundle engaging position at the entry side of said feeder by rocking movement of said rocker in a first direction.

8. An automatic feeder according to claim 7 in which said stop restoring means comprises means for swinging said rocker in a second direction for swinging said stop out of bundle engaging position and swinging said stop positioning means into bundle engaging position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,522,194 Labombarde Jan. 6, 1925 2,630,750 Eberle Mar. 10, 1953 2,640,401 Comstock June 2, 1953 2,768,756 Horman Oct. 30, 1956 2,850,963 Grebe et a1 Sept. 9, 1958 2,867,166 Saxton et a1. Jan. 6, 1959 FOREIGN PATENTS 340,439 Great Britain Jan. 1, 1931 508,224 Canada Dec. 14, 1954 OTHER REFERENCES Germany (printed application), DAS 1,081,369, May 5, 1960. 

1. AN AUTOMATIC FEEDER FOR A BUNDLE TYER HAVING A TABLE, A CARRIAGE FOR ADVANCING A BUNDLE ALONG SAID TABLE, SAID CARRIAGE BEING RECIPROCABLE BETWEEN A BUNDLE RECEIVING POSITION AND A BUNDLE TYING POSITION, MEANS FOR MOVING SAID CARRIAGE BACK AND FORTH BETWEEN SUCH POSITIONS, MEANS RESPONSIVE TO THE ARRIVAL OF A BUNDLE ON SAID TABLE AT BUNDLE RECEIVING POSITION FOR ACTUATING SAID CARRIAGE FOR ADVANCING SAID BUNDLE FROM RECEIVING POSITION TO TYING POSITION, A TYING MECHANISM AT TYING POSITION, MEANS RESPONSIVE TO THE ARRIVAL OF A BUNDLE AT TYING POSITION FOR ACTUATING SAID TYING MECHANISM THROUGH A TYING CYCLE AND MEANS RESPONSIVE TO THE COMPLETION OF A TYING CYCLE FOR ACTUATING SAID CARRIAGE MOVING MEANS FOR RETURNING SAID CARRIAGE TO BUNDLE RECEIVING POSITION, SAID AUTOMATIC FEEDER COMPRISING, IN COMBINATION, MECHANISM FOR FEEDING A BUNDLE RECEIVED FROM A PRECEDING BUNDLE CONVEYOR ONTO SAID BUNDLE TYER TABLE AT BUNDLE RECEIVING POSITION, BUNDLE STOP MEANS MOVABLE BETWEEN A STOP POSITION FOR PREVENTING THE PASSAGE OF A BUNDLE OFF OF SAID PRECEDING CONVEYOR ONTO SAID AUTOMATIC FEEDER AND A RESTORED POSITION IN WHICH SAID STOP MEANS DOES NOT PREVENT SUCH PASSAGE, STOP POSITIONING MEANS ACTUATED BY THE FEEDING OF A BUNDLE OFF OF SAID AUTOMATIC FEEDER ONTO SAID BUNDLE 